It used to be when you wanted to surf the Internet or access your Facebook account, you had to use your desktop or laptop PC. Since Microsoft ruled the PC space with Windows, the chances were good that you did those activities on a Windows-based PC.

With the rise of tablets and smartphones in the last few years, many people are moving to those aforementioned devices to do work and consume content that they would previously do on the PC. That's the conclusion of a new report from the research firm the NPD Group, which claims that 37 percent of people who used to access certain content on their PCs have now switched to accessing that content on their tablets and smartphones.

While PC users still access the web and their Facebook account more than tablet and smartphone owners, that is changing rapidly. NPD states:

Among tablet owners, 27 percent say they are using their PC less frequently for accessing the Internet and 20 percent say they are using their PC less frequently for accessing Facebook. Twenty-seven percent of smartphone owners have decreased both their Internet and Facebook usage on their PCs because they now use their smartphone for these activities.

So called Smart TVs that can connect to the Internet are also taking some people away from their PCs. NPD claims that 21 percent of those owners are now watching streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu Plus and others on their TV rather than on their PC.

That makes Microsoft's push to get both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 out to the public more important than ever as the vast majority of tablets and smartphone are running on iOS and Android.